Four Noida RWAs granted permission to collect waste

Rajesh Singh, OSD, Noida Authority, said the project was being conducted on an experimental basis.

The Noida authority has given approval to four residents’ welfare associations to collect waste in their respective sectors, in response to a request made by the Federation of Noida Resident’s Welfare Associations (FONRWA) to be allowed to do so.

Garbage being disposed of at Sector 66 in Noida. The permission given to four Noida RWAs to collect waste is intended to eliminate middlemen as well as unnecessary costs. (Sunil Ghosh / HT Photo)

In a letter written to the authority’s chief executive officer (CEO) on October 11, 2018 by its office bearers, the FONRWA had given a list of five RWAs they said should be entrusted with sweeping and sanitation in their sectors on an experimental basis, at 75% of the cost paid by the Noida authority to its contractors for the same.

The approval for handing over the sweeping/sanitation job to the RWAs had been given earlier, following which the authority had asked the FONRWA to list five RWAs that will volunteer for the experiment, of which the authority has approved four.

The RWAs of Sector 47 (plotted houses), Sector 49, Sector 51 (C, D and F block), Sector 52 (plotted houses) and Sector 66 (S K) had volunteered to undertake the job. As Sector 51 has three RWAs, and it could not be decided which of them would carry out the work, it has been kept off the approval list for now, FONRWA officials said.

“All the RWAs, barring Sector 51, have been given approval and will start sweeping and sanitation work from February 1. As per the agreement, the RWAs will adhere to labour laws applicable in this regard. They have assured us that they can carry out the work at 75% of the cost that we currently pay our contractors,” Rajesh Singh, officer on special duty, Noida authority, said.

He said the project was being conducted on an experimental basis.

“The door-to-door waste collectors will collect the house waste, as usual. The rest of the tasks, like cleaning roads and drains, etc will be done by the four RWAs as test case,” Singh said.

Residents are confident they will be able to do this in an efficient manner.

“The idea is to eliminate the middlemen (contractors). We will do a better job ourselves and will prove that in the comings months. We will also take care of supervision of the project, and will employ people in compliance with minimum wage regulations,” NP Singh, president, FONRWA, said.